Florida Police 'Ticket' 2-Year-Old Girl Driving White Convertible

Katie Kindelan

ABC News•March 12, 2014

A 2-year-old in Jacksonville, Fla., will have to start doing some chores now to pay off the $4 "ticket" she received Tuesday from police officers while driving her white convertible toy car around her apartment complex.

The good news for the toddler, Za'Dariyah, is that the scribbling and drawings her mother says she has been making on the ticket won't be held against her in court.

The driving infraction against Za'Dariyah was given in fun by a few good-natured officers with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office who were responding to a call at the same apartment complex where Za'Dariyah lives with her family.

The officers saw an opportunity to defuse the situation when they saw Za'Dariyah cruising around the parking lot.

"Everybody got a bad perception of the police … and the police was real nice when they came along," said Za'Dariyah's uncle Keyth Mishaw, who took photos of his niece's first "ticket" and sent them to First Coast News.

The photos went viral on the station's Facebook page - garnering 3 million views, 150,000 likes and 17,000 shares - and Mishaw, Za'Dariyah and her mother, Zumekia, were interviewed live on the News' 7 p.m. broadcast Tuesday night, even bringing Za'Dariyah's white convertible with them.

"I'm still in shock right now about it all," Zumekia, whose last name was not released, said of the attention her daughter's pictures have received.

Though the ticket is fake, Za'Dariyah was "bumping into some cars" while driving the convertible for the first time, her uncle said.

"She was just actually doing her little driving thing and they [said], 'She deserves a ticket. She deserves a ticket,'" Mishaw said of the officers.

"We had fun with it and my family had a good time with it," Mishaw said. "I want to say hey to the officer. He made a real good something out of nothing."

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has not responded to requests for comment.